Being Aware of Others

Here's a little buzzkill of a story..

So I spent a good bit of last week studying at the hospital library for a final. I was basically coming to class, going home to walk the dog and eat, then coming back to school. Midway through the week, I was just getting tired. I was tired of carrying my books, notebooks, board review book, laptop, and index cards around. I was just fed up and convinced myself that it couldn't get any worse. Well one of the nights, I was walking to the library with my armamentarium and I saw this lady just breaking down in tears. Her son (I assume) was trying to comfort her but was pretty much in the same state. I'm guessing they just found out some bad news from the hospital. That definitely put things in perspective. Something else I noticed was how oblivious other students were of these people. I watched two girls in sweatshirts and gym shorts (standard study attire) just walk by this distraught family. Another guy walked by them just yapping away on his cell phone. The whole scene reminded me of a few paragraphs from Tuesdays with Morrie..

"Morrie had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Lou Gehrig's disease, a brutal, unforgiving illness of the neurological system. There was no known cure. "How did I get it?" Morrie asked. Nobody knew. "Is it terminal?" Yes. "So I'm going to die?" Yes, you are, the doctor said. I'm very sorry. He sat with Morrie and Charlotte for nearly two hours, patiently answering their questions. When they left, the doctor gave them some information on ALS, little pamphlets, as if they were opening a bank account. Outside, the sun was shining and people were going about their business. A woman ran to put money in the parking meter. Another carried groceries. Charlotte had a million thoughts running through her mind: How much time do we have left? How will we manage? How will we pay the bills?

My old professor, meanwhile, was stunned by the normalcy of the day around him. Shouldn't the world stop? Don't they know what has happened to me?"



I guess to stick with this theme, I have to give credit to the halftime show at the Carolina game this weekend. I usually dislike the band and any halftime 'entertainment', but that was a good show. It was pretty moving when they recognized the widow of the first USC ROTC member to die at war.